The Honorable James McGirr Kelly

[Kimberly Dow]

I keep looking at that photo of you all....
hear no evil, see no evil, thinking evil, speak no evil....

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Dear Garth, If would say anything, I'd be just repeating what others have said.
Another great work!

[Julie Boyles]

Dear Garth,

This really is an incredible portrait and I really admire your sense of color throughout the whole painting. I'll bet it is a really good feeling to have one of your paintings , or several in your case, hung in such a place of distinction!

Many Congratulations,

Julie
________
Dispensaries

[Tom Edgerton]

Garth--

Really masterfully done...

I appreciate so much your posting the details and discussing the hurdles. I've got a judge commission coming up and it will help immensely to have see this.

The head detail is beautiful and instructive. I've been struggling tremendously the last couple of years over skin tones and still am very dissatisfied. For some reason, this work really speaks to some of the things I'm wrestling with.

Thanks for your generosity of spirit in sharing your approach.

Best--TE

[Sharon Knettell]

Garth,

I do love the painterly quality of the face. Not to be silly, but the flag has a luscious quality to it as well. Beautiful warm portrait apparently befitting the subject himself . I do wish sometimes someone would take the brush out of my hang before I noodle it too much.

Between you and Alexandra, you must be literally covering the walls of Philadelphia's municipal buildings.

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Lisa Ober

I feel like a high school kid that isn't the cheerleader and isn't in the smoking lounge. I'm jealous of all of you and wish I had been able to take the tour. Was it Groucho who said, "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member?" Well I would bend that rule in this case. Looks like you had a great time and you all look so cute.

Dear Lisa,

If there is another opportunity to travel west to Phoenix/Scottsdale/Mesa Arizona, I would be tempted to drive out ( I need a new car first), and I would certainly stop enroute, in St. Louis, in order to meet you. I would love to see you at work up close! Consider yourself a member.

Garth

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Scott Bartner

Dear Garth:

I know what you had to work from and the deadline they placed on you, and you still pulled off a portrait of the highest level.

Dear Scott,

I respect you so much as an artist, and am grateful for the constructive feedback you gave me, mid stream on this portrait. You helped me to focus on the essentials with your no nonsense K.I.S.S. advice and wisdom. Knowing you thought I was off to a good start on this portrait went a long, long way to keeping my courage afloat, enough so that I was able to carry through and finish this. I meant to send another progress shot, but everything was changing so rapidly with spontaneous revisals, that I never got around to it. Thank you so much!

A friend and I were recently looking at a Sargent and what becomes apparent is the simplicity of it, as if the head were comprised of merely a handful of well placed brush strokes. I see that simplicity and elegance here as well.

Well done!

Scott

A high compliment indeed, Scott! I wonder who has even approached Sargent with such deft and elegant brushwork? I still need decades to grow in his shadow. But thanks just the same!

Garth

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Mike McCarty

Garth,

That is one beautiful painting. You seem to have the franchise on these important legal folk. Why would they want anyone else I wonder.

For the sake of variety, there are still a number of artists actively commissioned at this venue.

Are you sure you used all those colors? I can't seem to find number 21 - Mussini Neapelgelb Dunkel #232. No wait, there it is, sorry.

Well there is just a note or two of this color in the flag fringe. I believe all those yellows are part of the orchestral score of that fringe. I shoot for earth yellows first. If the color needs more fortification then I will summon the more chromatic yellows in a second rank of attack. I find it hard to get to where I have to go with just a cadmium yellow; I like a full orchestra to draw out just the right visual and chromatic timbre. Of course this applies to fleshtones and everything else in the painting.

A full array of reds was most helpful for color development in the flag stripes. For that long downward semi-shadow stripe, the color was simply modulated principally with just two reds: the Mussini Cadmium Red Tone (which is a sopisticated equivalent hue of cadmium red medium), and the Winsor & Newton Light Red (which is a warm, robust, earth red). The more lit parts were an equal admixture of those two reds, while the deeper parts modulated to mostly the Light Red (which looks greener and more receding in that relationship).

I too have been between those two beauties. My memory is of a beautiful outdoor garden cafe in California. The encounter raised my IQ a full 20 points, which brought it (briefly) up to a robust 110. Regrettably I have not had the pleasure of meeting Heidi.

When I arrived and met them, Linda and Chris told me they had a great time with you that day in California. When I realised Heidi was within an hour's drive of the others, I was so glad she could join us also. My I.Q. and self esteem seemed to surge for the day as well!

Garth

[Jean Kelly]

Garth,

You have a way of turning the traditionally stuffy, pompous, boring, judicial portrait, into one of warmth and character. Plus the fact that the technique is flawless. I can learn much from you and try every day.

Jean

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Linda Brandon

Garth kept faking heat stroke and demanding cold drinks with umbrellas in them. He also made us fan him with giant palm leaves .

Originally Posted by Chris Saper

Ah, so true. But at least he is keeping his word to say only nice things about us.

Hey, Garth, I have been out for the past week, and I am likewise thrilled to see this marvelous portrait. Congratulations!

P.S. Mike, that was fun. I will hunt around for pic of us in the garden.

I should admit that group photo was actually a Photoshop frankenstein creation! At one point, Chris was endowed with fifteen fingers! A little quick editing was needed.

Thanks for the drinks, tiny umbrellas and palm leaves!

Garth